PERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TERHADAP PESERTA PEMAGANGAN BERDASARKAN HUKUM KETENAGAKERJAAN INDONESIA

Abstract

Internship (pemagangan) is designed under Indonesian labor law as a temporary work-training scheme, not an employment relationship. In practice, however, many companies retain interns for periods exceeding four years while assigning them the same working hours and core duties as fixed-term or permanent employees, yet continue to pay only a stipend (uang saku) instead of wages. This study examines the legal protection available to interns whose internship extends beyond four years and the legal status of stipend payments when an intern's working hours mirror those of contract or permanent workers. Using normative legal research with statutory and conceptual approaches, the study analyzes Law Number 13 of 2003 on Manpower as amended by Law Number 6 of 2023 on Job Creation, Government Regulation Number 35 of 2021, and Minister of Manpower Regulation Number 6 of 2020, supported by recent legal scholarship. The findings show that prolonged internship exceeding four years, combined with full working hours and subordination to company command, substantively fulfills the elements of an employment relationship — work, wages, and command — under Article 1 point 15 of the Manpower Law, so that the stipend received functions as a disguised wage. Legal certainty therefore requires that such internships be reclassified as employment relationships entitling participants to minimum wage and other normative rights, together with stricter government supervision to prevent internship programs from being misused as a source of cheap labor.